Monism vs dualism: that is the question

If you've never heard these terms don't panic, don't run, just give this article a chance and you may never see reality the same way again. That is precisely what we are going to talk about here, about how we understand reality.

For practical purposes we are going to understand reality in two ways, from a monistic and a dualistic conception.

What is the dualistic perspective?

When we speak of a dualistic conception of reality, we are referring to the idea that it is composed of two elements or substances; a material part, made up of matter (like the screen you are looking at right now) and a material part spiritual, which is not observable with the naked eye nor is it capable of being reached by the senses (like the "soul").

This perspective of reality comes from the philosophical postulates of discards, surely you have heard his name or his famous phrase "I think therefore I am", although it was not the unique, Greek philosophy is steeped in the dualistic perspective, like Pythagoras, Plato, Socrates etc

A well-known example is that of Plato's cave, where he concludes with the idea that what really matters and what we really have to know is the world of ideas, since that the senses are deceptive, the organic, the body keeps us from trying to really know what reality is like, the experience itself is at a lower level than the world of ideas; all this is also very incorporated by Christianity, especially by the Catholic Church, which places great emphasis on the division of body and soul (this one goes to heaven after the body ceases to exist).

• Related article: "The 10 branches of Philosophy (and their main thinkers)"

Dualism in Psychology

Dualism has had a very profound impact on all cultures, for example the idea of ​​the soul as something that can be detached from the body, as if they were two different substances, comes from this perspective, another example is that of spirits capable of controlling bodies, being able to manage their actions as if it were a puppet.

And I'm sure you're wondering... What does this have to do with psychology?

Do not get impatient because there goes the answer. In a simplistic way, psychology is a science that seeks to explain why people behave as they do. behave, and when trying to understand human behavior, the dualistic vision is the one that is most current; Whether you ask your most distinguished professor in college, your human resources manager, to the priest or the baker on the corner, it is very likely that they explain the behavior from this perspective.

What we do is separate a person into two parts, his corporeal part which is his matter but on the other hand is his mind, his spiritual part. In other words, body and mind are separate, and work differently with different laws.

Dualistic psychology is often based on the idea that the mind is responsible for emotions, thoughts, and conscious experiences., and it is the true reason for the behaviors, the mind interacts with the body, the spiritual interacts with the body, and in this way the behaviors arise. A psychological current that represents this vision of reality very well is psychoanalysis, where these two elements are clearly seen. The psychic apparatus and material behavior, where practically all human behavior is governed by this "spiritual" world.

But psychoanalysis is not the only current that represents Descartes' dualism, actually being honest, most psychological currents are influenced by this perspective, where it is understood that psychological phenomena have a different logic from that of other natural phenomena, therefore there is the idea that psychology cannot follow the methods of the natural sciences since behavior is governed by higher processes (soul), not observable to plain sight. And this is how psychology has burned its eyelashes and has made a lot of effort trying to explain human behavior through mind, for example with cognitive theory, understanding the origin of behavior from automatic thoughts, schemes, beliefs etc

• You may be interested in: "History of Psychology: authors and main theories"

And what is the monistic perspective about?

Monism is a philosophical theory that holds that everything in the universe is a single substance or essence, and this substance can be material or spiritual, for which we have two types, materialistic monism, where reality only It is made up of matter, and spiritualist or idealistic monism, where all reality is only a construct of reality. mind.

Here I will briefly explain why it is important that we know this perspective and the importance of developing a monistic psychology.

If you didn't know, psychology is a science, or at least it tries to be, but unlike other sciences, there are many, many different ideas. in which psychologists do not agree, for example, if you go to a psychoanalyst he will explain the behavior from one perspective, if you go to a cognitive will explain that same behavior to you from another perspective, if you go to a gestalt it will also have a different explanation of that same behavior conduct.

And surely you will think "what's wrong with this? More perspective, more wealth." But this is not a good thing; Imagine that you go to a doctor because your chest hurts, and he tells you, what is happening to you is that you have excess blood, we are going to have to make a bleed, then you go to another and he tells you, your problem is that you have little phlegmatic substance, you will have to take bile from cow.

You will surely run out of there. The least you would expect is that the professional in front of you has scientific knowledge that allow you to understand precisely what is happening to you, giving you the best treatment possible. And this is what we expect from psychologists. Obviously this is not an easy task, but the monistic perspective may be the way to achieve this goal.

When we do science, it has certain assumptions when trying to understand reality, basically there are two, materialism and determinism, these two assumptions give rise to the scientific method. In review, materialism means that science only works with material facts and determinism, It means that this matter follows a series of laws, that it follows rules, it is not capricious, it does not work at the same time. random.

If we do not accept these principles, we are not doing science. And before you want to stone me, let's remember that these are assumptions to do science, reality does not necessarily have to be composed only of matter, perhaps it is also made up of a spiritual substance, but if I want to do science I have to concentrate on the material part, since I cannot do the spiritual know.

Therefore, there cannot be a science, therefore a psychology, that studies the spirit; we need to conceive psychology from a materialist perspective if we want to make a science out of it, this implies that psychology must shed its perspective dualist and define its object of study from a materialist - deterministic perspective, as the study of conduct.

Can psychology meet this materialistic and deterministic monist perspective?

The first thing that we usually think about when building a psychological science that complies with these materialistic and deterministic perspectives, is that we have to study the brain. In the neurosciences, many have found a break when it comes to making psychology a science, believing that by studying and understanding the brain, we will understand behaviors. And I don't want to imply that the study of the neuro is not important, but understanding behavior is a different area than the brain.

Pretending to understand behavior by studying the brain is like wanting to understand dance by studying muscles, bones, and joints. The brain is an enabler of behavior, but we cannot focus on it to understand behavior, we need to go further, we need to try to understand what laws the behaviors themselves have. And they will wonder, but is this materialism? Of course, behavior, even if it does not have matter, is the relationship of matter, and this form of material relationship, behavior, has certain rules, which have been studied by psychology behaviorist.

Behavioral psychology for several years has been studying behavior as the only object of study of psychology; We call this radical behaviorism, radical comes from the root word, and refers to the fact that everything an individual does is behavior.

I believe that it is very important that as psychologists we know both the philosophical approaches, as scientists that behaviorism raises, since it is vital for us to understand the laws that govern behavior, to that in this way, we can help our clients in the best way, having a scientific perspective of what occurs.